Malda: Sujapur MLA Sabina Yeasmin – aligned with the Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction of Trinamool Congress – has resigned from her post as president of Democratic Trinamool Congress’s women’s wing. This comes months after MLAs Kasem Siddique and Tauseef Rahman left the faction. Yeasmin, however, has vowed to remain with the party.In a letter addressed to Biplab Mitra, president of Democratic Trinamool Congress, Yeasmin cited health reasons for stepping down, writing, “In spite of leaving the post of president of the women’s wing, I will remain in the party and serve as a worker.” Interestingly, she omitted any mention of the Democratic Trinamool Congress in her letter, referring to the party instead as All India Trinamool Congress. She later told TOI, “I never left the party or dropped my allegiance to Mamatadi.”Yeasmin, a former minister, faced backlash in her Muslim-dominated constituency after she joined the Ritabrata camp. Having been excluded from official govt programmes, the administrative control of Sujapur effectively shifted to BJP. To make matters worse, she was summoned by NIA in connection with the violence in Mothabari during the SIR process in Bengal. Tight-lipped on her future plans, Yeasmin remarked, “It is difficult to remain in politics by compromising one’s integrity.” Political observers do not rule out the possibility of her returning to her former party, Congress.Commenting on the development, Ritabrata camp MLA Prasun Banerjee said, “I was unaware of this, but if she has cited health reasons, we must respect that.”BJP, however, downplayed the incident. MLA and chief whip Amlan Bhaduri remarked, “TMC has been completely wiped off public mind. Nobody cares who goes where.”
